109,366 people (2024 Census estimate, +1.9% since 2020)
580 square miles of land · 189 people per square mile
“Highest” and “lowest” are just order, not grades: a high rank for poverty or hazard losses means more of it. Each figure's source is in its section below.
11 active community water systems list Houston County in the area they serve, reporting 126,861 people served in all (a system that crosses county lines counts its whole population).
| DOTHAN UTILITIES, CITY OF groundwater · local government · AL0000681 | 97,146 served |
| TAYLOR, CITY OF groundwater · local government · AL0000702 | 9,339 served |
| HOUSTON COUNTY WATER AUTHORITY groundwater · local government · AL0001755 | 4,902 served |
| ASHFORD WATER WORKS, CITY OF groundwater · local government · AL0000671 | 3,816 served |
| COTTONWOOD, TOWN OF groundwater · local government · AL0000677 | 3,570 served |
| COWARTS WATER SYSTEM, TOWN OF groundwater · local government · AL0000678 | 2,469 served |
| KINSEY WATER SYSTEM groundwater · local government · AL0000689 | 2,010 served |
| WEBB WATER SYSTEM groundwater · local government · AL0000708 | 1,521 served |
Source: U.S. EPA Safe Drinking Water Information System (SDWIS), active community systems, . Look up any system's violations and test results with EPA's search using its ID.
About 441 people were held in Houston County's jail, in Vera's latest figure (2023), or 655 per 100,000 residents ages 15–64. In 2018 it was about 336.
Source: Vera Institute of Justice, Incarceration Trends (built from federal Bureau of Justice Statistics jail surveys). Counties without their own jail, or that share one, may show no figure.
2 school districts have their office in Houston County. School taxes are usually the largest part of a property tax bill.
Spent $120 million — $114.2 million to run schools, about $13,839 per student, plus $3.3 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $28.4 million local (mostly property tax), $62.5 million state, $29.9 million federal. Long-term debt: $39 million.
Spent $91.3 million — $75.5 million to run schools, about $10,971 per student, plus $13.5 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $23.7 million local (mostly property tax), $56 million state, $15.5 million federal. Long-term debt: $37.1 million.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2023 Annual Survey of School System Finances. Districts are listed by the county of their main office; some serve neighboring counties too.
Source: County Health Rankings & Roadmaps 2025 (University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute), which gathers federal data (CDC, Census, and others); measures cover different recent years. Blank lines aren't reported for small counties.
Overall risk: Relatively Moderate compared with other U.S. counties. FEMA estimates natural hazards cost Houston County about $55.2 million a year on average in buildings, crops and lives. Ability to bounce back (community resilience): Relatively High; social vulnerability: Relatively High.
Source: FEMA National Risk Index (December 2025), expected annual loss. Ratings compare counties nationwide; they're estimates, not predictions.
248 bridges in Houston County: 116 in good condition, 131 fair, and 1 poor (0.4%). “Poor” means a main part — the deck, the beams, or the supports — is rated 4 or lower on the federal 0–9 scale. It doesn't mean unsafe to drive; unsafe bridges are closed.
| WILLIE RALEY RD over BEAVER CREEK · built 1990 | 95 vehicles a day |
Source: Federal Highway Administration, National Bridge Inventory (2025 submission). Includes state, county and city bridges.
Federal grants paid for $16.9 million of work in Houston County in fiscal 2025, about $158 per resident — to the county, cities, schools, hospitals, nonprofits and others.
Source: USAspending.gov, grants by place of performance, fiscal 2025 (Oct. 2024 to Sept. 2025). Search it by county to see each award.
From Grants.gov: posted grants listing county governments as eligible, soonest deadline first; research-only and overseas programs left out; list updated 2026-10-13, refreshed weekly. 62 are open in all. Cities, towns, school districts and nonprofits have their own lists there.
Registration deadlines, early voting and polling places for Alabama are on the federal site vote.gov, which links to the state's official election office.
The budget, property tax rates, audits, local officials and offices for Houston County come from the county's own records, which we haven't gathered — not gathered, never hidden. See what a full county site looks like, or ask to have Houston County built: brayden.ozark@gmail.com.
More of Alabama: the state government and every county in Alabama.
Nearby counties: Henry County (25 mi) · Early County, GA (26 mi) · Jackson County, FL (26 mi) · Dale County (26 mi) · Seminole County, GA (30 mi) · Geneva County (31 mi).